"Chavez inspires left but [is] no icon," insists the headline for a February 21 story by Reuters reporter Frank Jack Daniel. Daniel took time to examine what role Chavez could play in rallying Latin American leftists now that the Fidel Castro has kindly retired to let little hermano Raul take the wheel for a while indefinitely.
Daniel practically makes Chavez sound like the Barack Obama of Latin American Marxism: nice image, but still needs more experience:
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's red beret-wearing President Hugo Chavez has inspired a new generation of Latin American leftists but has a ways to go to achieve the heroic status awarded to his iconic friend Fidel Castro.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓Castro, 81, stepped down on Tuesday as Cuba's leader in an armed revolution that made him a hero to guerrillas and young idealists in Latin America, even if he also became a villain for many in the world who saw him as an abusive autocrat.
So why isn't Chavez ready to fill Castro's boots? Daniel points, oddly enough, to Chavez's democratic rise to power (although he's since taken a torch to his country's constitution) as opposed to Castro's ascension to power by force of arms. Even so, notice that the d-word, dictator, is NEVER used by Daniel to refer to Chavez or Castro, while it is used to describe the man Castro ousted from power in 1959 (emphasis mine):
Many say Chavez aspires to be the galvanizing force that Castro was for many poor nations after his rag-tag rebel army defeated U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
[...]
Chavez has had less time than Castro to establish his leftist credentials, faces obstacles at home to his "21st century socialism," has alienated would-be supporters across the region by sparking bilateral spats and never overthrew a ruthless dictator.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
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Heros?
February 21, 2008 - 17:29 ET by orlandocajunExactly whom is Castro and Chevez heros to? Do the people risking their lives trying to get to Florida on a raft think that Castro is a hero? Other than their inner circle of accomplices, their people suffer miserable lives in poverty.
Every single socialist society oppresses their people without execption. The people of every free capitalist society prospers if they want to.
Chavez is a two-bit dictator. His people are getting what they deserve for re-electing that runt (if in fact he was really re-elected). It would be fine with me if the U.S. media would just ignore him. He wants the attention.
I have a feeling Hugo's
February 21, 2008 - 17:39 ET by drillanwrI have a feeling Hugo's not going to be around NEAR as long as Fidel has been ...
When you men get home and face an anti-war protestor, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend because she knows she’s dating a pussy… ~ Attributed to General Tommy Franks
Moronic-leftists will never get it... until, it is too late!
February 21, 2008 - 18:07 ET by PlaceboHero? It is never a shock or gob-smacking when reading the leftist drivel lionising the murderous and ruthless tyrant named Fidel touted by his, amoral, disciples. It is maddening but then they really get one’s goat (being polite) by mentioning another lowlife, tyrant, Chavez!
Ironically, these leftist-media-morons, if under the yoke of either regime, would be the first to take a bullet to the base of the skull.
I agree with drill; Hugo’s lifespan will never rival that of his buddy Castro.
Just a couple facts
February 21, 2008 - 18:29 ET by drillanwrHugo's "enemies" are NOT divided from him/his country by a "moat" of an ocean
I believe his enemies in neighboring countries are already, as we say, sharpening their swords for him
His people have already had it to the gills with him and his "I take it all from you ... and you get what I say you can have, which is next to nothing" ways ... and his latest oil fiasco will only result in further damage to his country's economy
When you men get home and face an anti-war protestor, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend because she knows she’s dating a pussy… ~ Attributed to General Tommy Franks
How is it that Reuters still
February 21, 2008 - 17:56 ET by ConservativeRexHow is it that Reuters still has a voice in anything that transpires in the USA? Why don't we treat them as we did PRAVDA or TASS? I am sick to death of these Un/Anti-Americans posing as an objective news source. Run 'em all out. Where do I go and protest these rascals? Anyone know?
ConservativeRex: I agree wholeheartedly…
February 21, 2008 - 18:26 ET by PlaceboConservativeRex: I agree wholeheartedly… one could always write the editorial board… which is no more than a gaggle, of ill-trained chimpanzees, parroting worn-out leftist-ideologies. Indeed, it is utterly exasperating that these propagandists, America-bashers are given any serious forum in this nation.
Hopefully, there are those, non-Conservatives, too, who grasp this bias and blatant anti-American, anti-democratic rot excreted by this and other, alleged, news agencies.
Chavez and Castro
February 21, 2008 - 22:35 ET by JerPersonally, I think both Chavez and Castro are despicable tyrants whose departure from the world stage would be most welcome, and, in Castro's case, about a half-century overdue.
However, I can find very little objectionable about the Reuters article. It was neither a tribute to the men, nor an endorsement of their policies. It was what it purported to be: A rather straightforward analysis of whether or not Chavez can or will achieve an exalted status similar to Castro's in the eyes of Latin America's radical left.
Jer
Hero? What knid of a world
February 22, 2008 - 00:15 ET by rbosqueHero? What knid of a world does Reuters live in? There are people in cuban prisons that have been there for years simply because they opposed Castro. Hero? Maybe to the Marxist MSM here in this country.